We’ve been having this all day in the UK. Lots of toy sellers got the following vague message this morning:-

"Dear seller,
Please read this email carefully. The listing information described below may affect your ability to sell certain products.
As part of our ongoing efforts to provide the best possible customer experience, we are implementing approval requirements for Toys products.
What does this mean for me?
Effective on 2018-04-18, you will need approval to list the affected products. If you do not obtain approval to sell these products prior to 2018-04-18, your listings for these products will be removed.

Why am I receiving this message?
You are receiving this message because you have sold affected products in the past. There is no penalty associated with this action.

How do I seek approval to sell the affected products?
If you would like to seek approval to sell the affected products, complete the following steps to start the application process:
In Seller Central, click the Inventory menu, and then select Add a Product.
Search for the ASIN you want to sell.
In the search results, click the Listing limitations apply link next to the ASIN.
Click the Request Approval button to start the application process.
We appreciate your co-operation in this important matter, and thank you for selling on Amazon.

Regards,
Amazon Services Europe"

After much gnashing of teeth and confusion it seems it applies to 5 sub categories. here’s a reply from SS late in the day:-

"Greetings from Amazon.
From your correspondence, I understand that your concern is regarding the email received about approval for toy category.
Please note that this is just a generalized email that has been sent out to most of the sellers on the Amazon platform for category approval.
I would like to inform you that there is no action required on your part if you have not listed the products in the Toy category.

However, in future if you are listing products in the toy category, you would need to request approval using the below steps:1.In Seller Central, click the Inventory menu, and then select Add a Product.
2.Search for the ASIN you want to sell.3.In the search results, click the Listing limitations apply link next to the ASIN.
4.Click the Request Approval button to start the application process

Toy safety gating team had multiple overlaps in their processes for approving sellers that sell products that sell toys, therefore they have launched one approval process which will encompass all of the ASINs being captured by the below multiple gating categories into one category.

The below gating categories have now been combined into one, meaning all sellers that apply for approval for the below categories will now apply to one Toy gating category.

I haven’t heard anything about new restrictions. However, I think that tightening restrictions would be a good thing. First thing I would like to see is that only those on professional selling plans be able to sell. Second, there should be invoices from manufacturers (not receipts from the clearance aisle at ToysRBust or some other discount retailer, alibaba, or some other third-world supplier) that a seller must submit in order to be approved. Heck, even throw in a one-time gating fee for good measure.

I haven’t heard anything about new restrictions. However, I think that tightening restrictions would be a good thing. First thing I would like to see is that only those on professional selling plans be able to sell. Second, there should be invoices from manufacturers (not receipts from the clearance aisle at ToysRBust or some other discount retailer, alibaba, or some other third-world supplier) that a seller must submit in order to be approved. Heck, even throw in a one-time gating fee for good measure.

With the recent bankruptcy of Toys R Us and the liquidation sale in process they’re will be a flood of toys hitting Amazon over the next 6 months. I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to do something to curtail this a little bit.

By the way, we did receive the same disregard notice from Amazon but like others, never received the original email.

Thank you for sharing that. I guess that might be nice because then you can get it all taken care of with one invoice instead of having to get separately approved in each of those categories. It would have been nice to get some notice beforehand, though. Or at least don’t retroactively apply it to sellers–just apply it to new sellers now coming in.

I’m assuming this is what is going on here, too. All of the other sub-categories are now gone and everything just says “toys”. It’s just frustrating that they still aren’t acknowledging it. No one on seller central seems to know what is going on. I don’t understand why they don’t just come out with it.